The Hunter
by AsakuraX
Summary: Thanks to Dr. Swann, Clark knows that he's the Traveler. What he doesn't know is that Zod seeks to destroy him or that a secret society is out there mandated to protect him. No, not Veritas. One far older and more mystic. LanaXOC, Clois later on.
1. Advent of the Hunter

Lana Lang strolled down Main Street, taking in the sights as she had not done in a long time. Between school and working at the Talon, she knew that the rest of her life had largely been a blur. Well, most of it, she decided. Somehow, a meteor freak or two (more like five or ten) would come in and, for some reason Lana found that the meteor freaks were attracted to her. She shrugged her shoulders to herself as she walked down the mostly empty street: she assumed she'd never figure out why she was Smallville's resident meteor-freak magnet. But if she was the magnet, Clark Kent was their eraser. Every time one of them cornered her, somehow Clark was always there to save her from the latest freak of the week.

She snapped out of her thoughts to notice that there weren't many people there on the streets. Lana looked up, shading her eyes from the bright sun. It was pretty warm out, so she assumed that the residents were either in their air conditioned homes or out at the lake taking a refreshing swim. She would enjoy taking the day off to go to the beach, but she still had plenty of paperwork to get through to send to Lex by the end of the week. She knew every day wouldn't be as slow as this so she needed to take the advantage while she had it.

When she finally looked up again from all of her paperwork, it was dark out, and rain clouds hung low overhead, threatening rain. She made a quick run to lock up before she headed home. She shivered slightly when she stepped outside. Lana would've normally stayed in the studio apartment upstairs, but she was supposed to pick up something from the Kent's that day and so she'd go there and pick it up and stop by Nell's place for the night. And so she began the drive to the Kent's house.

Her drive was largely uneventful down Main Street when Lana noticed the dimmed lights along Main Street and the drizzling rain. Just about everything was closed up and all the managers and owners were already at home with her families. At least, all but her. Lana softly hummed a tune to herself as she turned down a side street, making her way out of the small city and into Miller's Field on her way to the Kent's.

She followed the winding path on her way out of main streets of Smallville, Kansas until she noticed something in her headlights standing in the street. Something huge…and it wasn't about to move out of the way. Lana gripped the wheel and yanked it sharply, slamming on her brakes. Her pickup truck skidded on the wet pavement, sliding a full 180 degrees before scraping against the wall nearby and coming to a screeching halt. Lana tenderly touched her forehead, feeling a small bump begin to rise and throb painfully. She felt the rest of her body gingerly, testing for cracks and bruises before clambering out of her truck.

"Hey!" she called out to the figure that had stood imposing in the street. It didn't move. Her eyes squinted as she tried to see who had been in the way through the raindrops, which plopped harder on the ground around her. As a matter of fact, she noted that whatever it was hadn't moved since she spun out trying not to hit it.

"Hey," she called once again, this time moving more cautiously. "Are you okay?" It still hadn't moved, not even an inch. It was then that she caught on that the statuesque form was largely humanoid, but she couldn't see through the bad lighting of the side street.

She thought about getting closer, but a second thought said that if the guy was still standing there, he was just fine. After all, she hadn't hit him at all. Besides, she needed to get out of the rain and she still was supposed to stop by the Kent farm. She tried calling to the figure once more before shrugging her shoulders and turning to her car. She had barely turned around when she was standing face to chest with something…something that _wasn't _human. Lana slowly turned her head behind her, looking for the statue. When it wasn't there, she finally got a good look at the thing standing in front of her. It was humanoid, but instead of skin something akin to scales encased its entire body. When she looked up, Lana noticed it towered over her small form, and its eyes glowed a dangerous red. She slowly began to back away from the fiend, and then it let out a low growl and a grating metallic sound echoed in the street. She looked at its arms and noticed two large spikes protruding from each fist. And then it began to stagger towards her menacingly, every step rattling the ground underneath. She tried to pick up her pace and run, but she tripped over a crack in the sidewalk and splashed in the puddle underneath.

Searching around her frantically and finding nothing to defend herself, she let out a piercing scream in hopes someone would hear her. Instead, her cries incited the monster to rush her, speeding at her faster than she had seen anything move before. And it was an equal surprised when it suddenly stopped, as if it slammed into a brick wall. The monster rattled, shaking harshly as if it had been electrocuted. As it staggered away from her, it shook off its initial shock. When it turned back to her, its eyes grew darker. Lana blanched; whatever had happened made it even angrier. And it began another charge at her.

This time a black cape flashed in front of her before the monster hit yet another invisible wall. She couldn't see much of anything until the lightning above head flashed and she saw a boy standing in front of her, hand held upright as if he was conjuring up the "wall" that held the monster back. She heard growls and a grunt before the monster had slammed into the wall next to her, deflected by whatever the boy had done.

The boy turned to face his adversary, a fierce look etched into his eyes. His eyes were all she could see: his nose and mouth were wrapped up in a black cloth. He unhooked his cape and walked towards Lana and when she looked into his eyes, the fierce look was gone. In its place was something entirely different. Something soft and caring. The boy knelt by her in the puddle and handed her his cape to curl up in and try to keep warm. The lightning flashed again, and she noticed his hair hanging low in his face, damp from the rain and his soft, blue-gray eyes.

He called out a word she didn't know and was about to respond when something moved in the shadows behind her. She almost shrieked in surprise but the boy laid a finger to her lips to quiet her. The shadow moved into the light and turned out to be a wolf, also blue-gray in appearance. "Protect her," the boy muttered to the wolf, to which the wolf responded with a snarl and half a growl.

The boy rubbed his face slightly irritated. "Don't give me your lip now, Neyira. I don't have time to argue. We have to send Alek back to the Zone." The wolf snorted in response, but knelt in front of Lana with its teeth bared, a menacing sight to whomever would come anywhere near the girl. Lana curled the warm cape around herself as she watched the boy slip two handled sticks from loops at his waist and grip them tightly, the larger part of the weapon running parallel to his arms.

"Come on, Alek!" the boy called out. In response, red eyes flashed before three blurs flew from the rubble of the wall at the masked warrior. The boy merely slid his body fluidly under the first blur, moving into a sidestep that moved him from the second blur. As the third blur sped at him with full speed, the boy held up his weapons and a flash of light appeared between the two bars, stopping the blur in its tracks and dropping it to the ground, revealing the blurs to be mangled spikes.

The boy shook his head as the fiend finally climbed from the rubble created in its wake. "Quit playing with me, Alek!" he said shortly, almost as if the monster was just a sparring partner.

It glared at the boy with its evil eyes and grumbled one word at its opponent. "Venator," it growled fiercely.

The boy shrugged almost playfully. "Well I've been calling you by your name all night now. It's only fair that you call me by mine before I send you back to where you belong." Then he held his weapons in front of himself and spoke softly. "Sanctus mucro, transporto is everto tergum ut obscurum!" And just as suddenly the bars on his weapons shone brightly as they began to morph, becoming bladed on the ends as well as the handles.

Alek couldn't take it anymore, couldn't handle being taunted by a mere boy and rushed him furiously. The warrior called Venator stood his ground, waiting for the best moment. When Alek threw his first punch, Venator ducked quickly and punched out, ripping into the fiend's side with the side of his blades.

Lana's eyes were wide as she watched the boy go toe-to-toe with the monster called Alek. She heard a strange noise and, listening carefully, noticed that the wolf was growling. She watched the wolf for a moment as it stood fiercely, emitting a guttural snarl whenever the fiend broke away from Venator and looked Lana's way. The Talon manager crawled closer to the wolf and gently threaded her fingers into its fur. The wolf half-turned to see her, but turned to face the battle as it allowed Lana to curl up with it.

Lana's eyes peaked in interest as she watched the boy fight the fiend. "Venator" slipped his body under the monster's brutal fists with a natural ease and subtlety, flowing around him like wind. With every jab Alek threw, the boy came back with a jab or a sweep, trying to break into the fiend's scaly skin. When he couldn't break through, he danced away from Alek's flailing arms.

As much fun as this was, he knew it was time to end this. He couldn't allow himself to slip up and let Alek get away. Or even worse, let it kill him and take the girl. He didn't even know why Alek was after the girl, but he knew he needed to stop it from getting her. It was his job, his family's job. He had trained his whole life for this, and after hearing about all the weird things in Smallville, he had to come and do something to help them.

He realized that the elaborate dance was over and he held his twin elbow blades at his waist. "You had enough yet, Alek?" he called. "Just give it up. Why don't you just come along quietly?"

"Never," Alek growled darkly, before racing to bludgeon Venator. The boy moved just before Alek slammed into him, rolling into a stand to the fiend's right. While Alek collected himself, Venator looked up and saw the girl he was trying to save huddled up with Neyira. Because she had been standing in the rain, her clothes began to stick to her lithe frame, and he stared intently. She was…beautiful.

While he was staring, he heard a voice screaming, "Look out!" When he realized that it was the girl's voice, he turned just as Alek slammed into his body, flinging Venator in the air and slamming him into the nearest building.

Venator hit the wall, dazed from the blow, dropping his elbow blades. He heard Neyira growling darkly. When he weakly opened his eyes, he looked at Neyira sharply, willing her to stay with the girl. She couldn't leave her at all, the girl had to get away safe.

Alek stalked towards Venator, standing menacingly over his body, which was sprawled out over the pavement. "And now," Alek mumbled, hefting a spike into his claw and poising it over Venator's heart. "You shall pay for the suffering you and your family have put me through."

As Alek raised his spike overhead, a piercing scream echoed towards the combatants, blowing Alek off of his feet and far from Venator. The boy looked at Neyira, wondering if she felt the same power that he did. The wolf growled and tilted its head towards the girl at her back, who was sliding from Neyira's back and onto the pavement.

Knowing that he had to move quickly, he stood up, drawing the jian blade from his back and stood over Alek's fallen body. Red eyes glared at gray before Venator began to utter an incantation: "Orior oriri ortus quod operor meus mos." As he spoke, his twin elbow blades floated up and drifted to either side of the pair of warriors. He continued to speak as the clouds began to roll back and the pale moon shown down on them. "Patefacio porta!" he called aloud. The floating blades began to emit a crystallized light, piercing each ugly arm of Alek, pinning him underneath.

"Any last words, Alek?" Venator asked.

"We will be back. You, your family, and the Traveler shall be trampled underneath us, crushed into dust! Then Caliga will rise again!"

"You won't be back, Alek," Venator spat angrily. "Per is mucro," he chanted. "EGO transporto is phantasma tergum!" He swung the jian with all his might, ripping a gate open in the air that swallowed Alek in its maw before closing. When the rift closed, Venator sank to his knees, breathing deeply to catch his breath. He heard a whimper behind him and jumped back to his feet, racing to the fallen girl.

He scooped her into his arms, brushing her hair back from her face. "How is she, Neyira?" The wolf merely looked at him, eyes wide. He nodded his head slowly. "That's understandable. But what I want to know is where she got that kind of power from. I don't know anyone with that kind of potential."

When the girl stirred in his arms, he sat her up. "How are you doing?" he asked her.

The girl looked around, a little dazed before looking into Venator's eyes. "Clark…Kent…" she gasped before her head rolled away as she drifted into unconsciousness.

"Kent, huh?" the boy said lightly. "That's one lucky guy. Come on, Neyira. The least we could do is find this Clark guy, bring her back."

* * *

"Venator" is Latin for "Hunter"

"Sanctus mucro, transporto is everto tergum in obscurum!" is Latin for "Holy sword, send this demon back into the darkness!"

"Orior oriri ortus quod operor meus mos." is Latin for "Rise and do my will."

"Patefacio porta!" is Latin for "Open the gates!"

"Per is mucro, EGO transporto is phantasma tergum!" is Latin for "With this sword, I send this phantom back!"


	2. Tending the Wounded

Clark sat at the kitchen table just as furious as ever. He had messed up, not once, but _twice._ And Jor-El told him that after that last go around, he wouldn't be able to go back again. Sure, he'd saved Lana's life, but he'd lost his father. And not only that, but Lana seemed further away than ever. He ran his hand through his hair; he'd most definitely screwed up when it came to her. After that last girl-, Clark shuddered to think of what that girl had him doing. And now Lana had just been fed up with it, fed up with him. She wasn't gonna take it anymore, and he knew it.

He'd already seen his mom off to sleep. It had only been a couple of weeks, and it was only now that she was getting any sort of rest. Not only had Martha had to take care of her husband's funeral, she still had to maintain the farm with Clark as well as her job at the Talon. As estranged as the three of them were, Clark was happy that Lana and Lex understood enough to give his mom time to sort everything out without having something else on her plate to worry about. As a matter of fact, Martha had some paperwork for Lana. Clark had promised his mom that he would stay up and give Lana the papers for her so that she could get some type of sleep.

Clark got antsy as he waited for Lana. He had to get his mind off of what had happened to his little family or else he was going to lose it, and he couldn't afford another "red kryptonite" moment. It was those moments that had eventually landed him in this predicament. His mind drifted to Oliver Queen. He had a plan, a bold one, and Clark thought it was a good idea to get some of the superheroes together to take on whatever the world tossed at them. And at the same time, Clark knew he wasn't ready for a responsibility like that. He couldn't take care of his own family, couldn't save his father; why would he be able to save the world? He huffed out a huge breath in exasperation. Where was Lana? When she called, she'd told his mom she was on her way. That had been almost an hour ago, and he knew it didn't take that long to get here from the Talon, even when he wasn't using his superhuman speed.

While Clark sat at the kitchen table, waiting for Lana to come and get this paperwork and brooding his own misfortune, his super hearing picked up footsteps landing on the wooden steps of the Kent's front porch. He stopped his own mental belittlement to examine the footsteps. He knew it wasn't Lana's footsteps: Lana's footsteps were as light as a feather brushing against a pond. The ones he was hearing now weren't nearly as light to be hers or any other female at that rate. It wasn't Lex: Lex was out on business, and even if he was in town, Lex's footsteps were powerful and cunning, reminiscent of the man himself. No, these steps were weighted, but moved smoothly, almost elusively, as if someone was intentionally sneaking about. With a second thought, Clark realized that if he hadn't had such powerful hearing, he wouldn't have heard anything at all.

He sighed; at any rate he had to check it out, so he stood up from his chair and made his way to the door. He was at the door, reaching for the handle when he stopped suddenly. He could almost sense somebody standing on the other side of the doorway. And more importantly, he felt something reach out to him, something powerful. Almost simultaneously, Clark was swinging the door open, but upon looking out, he saw no one at the door. Clark knew he hadn't been getting much sleep and thought he may have been dreaming, so he pinched himself and blinked several times before looking again, peering harder. There wasn't a trace of anyone there, but he was sure that he had heard someone come to the front door. He scratched his head, deciding that it wasn't important enough to go gallivanting into town to investigate. Chloe would've berated him for not following something like that for sure, but right about now he wasn't in the mood to have any adventures or anything of the sort. He was about to give up on Lana making it and going up to bed when he noticed a figure laying in the porch swing. He watched the swing sway gently as he stalked over, ready to attack if something was preying on him.

When he stood entirely over the figure, Clark noticed it was draped with a black cloth, long enough to cover the entire . . . thing, whatever it was. He grasped an end of the cloth and realized it was very light, but trapped in heat exceedingly well. He pulled gently and the cloth slid down, revealing Lana's unusually pale face.

"Lana!" Clark cried out, immediately scooping the girl into his arms and carrying her to the living room couch. He could feel her body as he pressed her to his chest before laying her down; she was limp and damp, as if she'd been unconscious. She was deathly pale, almost as if she had been completely drained of energy. He laid her down gently, checking her pulse and breathing in hopes that she'd still be alive. He couldn't take it if she were to die too; all that he'd gone through to save her last time, just to lose her now . . . he couldn't bear it. He felt her heartbeat, he almost cried with relief. He pressed his lips to her forehead before whispering gently to her: "I'll be right back, Lana. Hold on, we'll get you better." He figured he'd get something warm for her to drink and maybe something warmer than that cloak to wrap her in. While he thought of that, he figured she might wanna change clothes as well, to get out of her soaked ones. He knew he'd have to wake his mother up; he had already seen most of that before, but with the way things were now he didn't want to make things worse. "I'll be right back," he whispered again. In his haste to get things together to help Lana out, he didn't notice a blue-gray wolf pad into the front door. It strode in, almost as if it knew exactly what it was looking for and where to find it, too.

The wolf made its way to Lana's unconscious form and stared at her for a moment, pondering what to do next. It placed its head on the couch next to her and breathed slowly into her face. At that moment, Lana began to stir. When she opened her eyes, she saw the wolf staring at her, and it whined, almost as if relieved to see that she was okay. She lifted her hand, noticing how hard it was to lift her own hand, and placed it on the wolf's head. It whined again before licking her face gently. She giggled, moving to wipe her face of the slobber but found her face smooth, not wet or dry. Then she looked at her hand, and it hit her: she had the energy to lift her hand again. She sat up, placing her hands gently around the wolf's neck. "Neyira, is that you?" she asked the wolf weakly. The wolf merely gazed at her, staring hard into her eyes. She began to stare back, feeling time slow and then stop. The wolf's eyes began to glow blue, and for merely a moment, she thought she heard a girl's voice speaking to her. _We came in search of the Traveler, but you are just as important to our cause. You have just begun to realize your own power, not just your ancestor's. And now, a mark to remind you that this is all real . . ._

The wolf's glowing eyes grew in intensity, and Lana had to close her eyes because of the brightness. When she light died down, she opened her eyes to be lying down alone in the Kent's home. She sat up slowly, feeling her energy returning to her body. She was still soaking wet though, so she pulled the cloak tightly around her shoulders to try and get warm. _Maybe it was all a dream,_ she thought to herself. _But I have his cloak still. It had to have been real. Maybe I imagined it all. But Venator . . . that's what the monster called him. . ._

She was still lost in her thoughts when Clark and his mom came down to check on her. Clark breathed a large sigh of relief when he saw that she had woken up all on her own. She managed a smile when she saw the two come and greet her and dote over her, but she wasn't exactly sure what exactly had happened to her, so she avoided the questions.

After a moment of silence, Clark came back with Lana's tea, handing it to her. "It's really hot," he murmured.

She mumbled her thanks back while she took a slow sip, feeling it begin to warm her body but not nearly as well as the cloak did.

"Well," Martha began, "I think you should get out of those wet clothes. We have some of my older clothes if you would like."

"Actually, I really don't want to intrude, so I'll just be on my way."

"Not at all!" Martha remarked. "You'll stay at least the night. I'll go and get your clothing now."

While Martha left her son and his ex sitting across from each other, Clark and Lana avoided eye contact or any conversation. After what he had done, Clark couldn't help but not be able to form any words for her, to apologize or explain or anything. And as far as Lana was concerned, she wasn't ready to talk to him just yet. They had been dating and she thought this time would be different. But all of a sudden, Clark just broke it off. She was tired now, and all she wanted was to sleep.

"Well Clark, I'm gonna go to sleep now, so go on up to your room. I'll be fine here."

Clark shook his head. "Lana, I insist that you have my bed tonight. I can sleep in the loft. Come on," he said, reaching a hand out and half-dragging her to his room. Martha saw them on the way up and called Clark back.

She handed him an old night dress. "Be careful, Clark. She's already been through a lot."

"Don't worry Mom. I won't. I broke up with her. I'm just giving her my bed."

Martha ran a hand through her son's hair. "I know Clark. I know." He smiled softly at her before going back up the stairs to give Lana her clothes for the night.

He arrived in his room to see Lana sitting on the edge of the bed, looking at his sparingly decorated room. "I keep most of my stuff in the loft now," he said to her softly. Before she could say anything, Clark handed her the bundle in his hands. "If you don't like these, I've got some old shirts you can help yourself to. Your wash materials are in the bathroom waiting for you." He smiled gently, to which she couldn't help but smile back, even if only a little.

"Thank you, Clark," she whispered.

He took a step back and stood at the doorway. "Good night Lana," he whispered back before walking to the barn to sleep.

Lana strolled slowly through to the shower in hopes to rejuvenate her body before going to sleep. She turned the handles in the shower to get it running nice and hot before stripping her damp clothes off and sliding them into a pile in the corner. She looked her body over, checking for those bumps and bruises she had felt when the . . . whatever it was attacked her. She felt nothing but a general tiredness when she turned in the mirror. Stamped onto her lower back was the mark of her ancestor, Countess Marguerite Isobel Theroux. And right on top of the mark was a wolf's paw print. . .

"Neyira, how is she?" Ven asked his companion. The wolf tilted her head at him, whimpering lightly. "I know," he responded. "But for her to not be trained in her magic it makes sense that she was almost drained of it. She wouldn't even be able to access it if it hadn't been for her ancestor taking over in the first place. We need to contact home. They'll want to know about finding another one, and a powerful one at that. But more importantly, we have to send the call out: We've found the Traveler."

* * *

**A/N: the girl Clark mentioned earlier is Alicia, the girl infected with Kryptonite that could teleport and had taken Clark to Vegas to get married. Also at this point, Isobel had already killed Jason Teague's mother and sealed herself away, but she left her spirit in Lana. With the mark, Isobel is back, but Lana will be able to harness her magic potential now. It's also been maybe two weeks or so since Jonathan died at this point of the series. **

**I want to know if this is going anywhere, so send me a review and tell me what you like or don't like about the story.  
**


	3. Guiding the Blind

"Clark, I'm not crazy," Lana told him, beginning to make her way to her locker from her trigonometry class. "I know what happened out there!"

Clark followed her, jostling past the kids laughing and talking in the halls. He missed Pete and briefly wondered whether his best friend would ever believe what Lana was telling him. "Lana," he called out. When she turned back to look at him, he caught up to her. "As much as you may believe you saw that, you must have been delirious. You were on my porch, shivering and wet. You don't even know how you got to my house. So I can't believe that you saw—what'd you see again?"

Lana looked around them before pulling him into the nearby doorway of the Torch, glad that Chloe wasn't there yet to hear this. Although she'd take off running with this, fully on Lana's side, she'd ask a lot of questions Lana wasn't exactly sure she could answer at this moment. "I was on my way to your house. Something was blocking the road and I tried to swerve around it. And when I got out, the monster attacked me, but this…this guy, he was there. And he protected me, and there was this wolf, and she watched over me. He, he saved me Clark."

Clark looked at the girl in front of him expectantly. After everything that he'd been through since high school, he knew that there could be something to this. But he hoped that she had merely been dreaming because it would mean that he hadn't broken up with her in vain. His point was to keep her safe. And at this rate, it sounded as if he was failing miserably. "Lana, are you sure this isn't just a little extreme? I mean, magic, aliens, wolves? I hardly think that would be plausible?"

"What's plausible, Smallville?" the pair heard Lois say. She stood before the two of them, Chloe close at her heels. An awkward silence crept among them all before Lois shook her head. "Okay, don't tell us," she said sarcastically, giving them a little smile. "I gotta go anyways. Gotta go to class sometimes if I wanna graduate."

Chloe shrugged between the two of them, looking back and forth at Clark and Lana. She gave Clark that said,_ What did you do this time?_

He responded with, _I'll tell you later. _He ran a hair through his hair and sighed. "Lana, I still need to get my stuff for Literature class. I'll see you there?" When she nodded stiffly, he hesitated before striding off.

Chloe picked up her papers for the next issue of the Torch and pulled up beside Lana. "So what's up with the sudden stare-down with our own little farm boy?"

Lana tried in vain to stifle a sigh as she walked with Chloe to her next class. "It's been hard to deal since we broke up. There's something about Clark that he won't tell me, and now he doesn't believe what I'm telling him now. It's just-," she was cut off as she bumped into something and hit the floor hard. Lana pulled her feet under her as she looked to find out just exactly what she had run into. The first thing she noticed was an overexcited Siberian Husky-looking dog panting over the boy lying on the floor next to her.

"Oh my God, I'm so sorry!" she exclaimed, motioning to Chloe to help him sit up. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah, I'm fine," the boy responded, patting himself down. His hands were covered with fingerless gloves and dusted down his denim pants before feeling the air. The dog put its head between its hands and whimpered, worried about its master. The boy put his hand on the dog's muzzle and rubbed it gently. "It's alright girl," he cooed to the dog as it licked his face. "I'm gonna be okay." He rubbed her coat before speaking again. "Hey, where's my cane, huh girl?"

Lana put her hand on the ground, feeling something roll under her fingertips. She saw a small white stick underhand and picked it up. "Umm, excuse me," she said. "Is this your cane?" she held out the cane for him.

His head turned to her, a light grin on his face as he pushed the sunglasses on his face back up to his eyes. "I guess…It depends, 'cause I can't see it."

"Oh, I'm so sorry!" Lana cried out as Chloe excused herself to class. Lana took the boy's hand and placed the cane in his outstretched palm.

"Hey, thanks," he remarked, slowly getting to his knees and standing. He patted his leg, and the dog stood, placing her paws on his thighs. He rubbed her head gently, saying, "Who's a good Nerissa? Good girl."

Lana tucked her hair behind her ear nervously as she stood beside him, shuffling on her feet. She watched him as he whispered softly to his dog, calming the over-excited mini-mountain of blue-gray fur. She was silent until he called out. "Hey are you still there?"

She stepped in front of him slowly, smiling sheepishly. "Yeah, I'm still here."

"Oh good," he remarked, grinning widely. "I had hoped you hadn't run off." He tapped the floor lightly with his cane and his dog laid down at his feet, her head resting on her paws. "My name is Dominic," he offered, holding out a hand.

Lana took his hand and shook. "I'm Lana. I'm sorry about knocking you down."

"Ah, it's no problem. I wasn't watching where I was going," he laughed.

"A guy with a sense of humor," Lana noted with a chuckle.

"Well, if I can't laugh about my own problems, I can't laugh about anything. Anyways, Nerissa here got a little excited when we got around you. That's why I bumped into you. Usually she's so calm. Maybe your perfume did something for her."

Lana nodded slowly to herself before looking closer at the dog, whose tail wagged excessively. "May I pet her?"

He nodded. "I think she might be hurt if you didn't."

Lana knelt at Nerissa, rubbing her coat softly. "What is she? She looks like a wolf."

Dominic chuckled. "Well, she's definitely got wolf in her blood. Except with certain people, she's so much more wild than normal." Lana listened to Dominic while Nerissa reared up and began to lick her face happily. He chuckled a little. "Sounds like she really likes you."

Lana cooed at the dog while she responded. "Well, I like her too," she said. She began to rub Nerissa's neck. "Yes, I do, yes I do!" Lana got back to her feet, still patting Nerissa's head. "Well, I gotta go to Lit class, Dominic."

"Wait, please call me Dom. All my friends do." He held out one hand and Lana took it, shaking gently. "And you said Lit class? My counselor said I had Literature this hour. How many Lit teachers are there?"

Lana smiled. "There's only one, Mr. Lancaster, but he makes us call him by his first name, Rick. So you must be in my class this hour. I'll take you there if you want me to."

"I'd be glad to have you as my guide," Dom remarked. He opened his arm for Lana to hook her arm in it, guiding him off to Mr. Lancaster's class.

* * *

Chloe pulled up the chair behind Clark just before the late bell rang and Mr. Lancaster began to discuss about the next book they would read, _The Tragedy of Macbeth_. Chloe smirked to herself, glad that she had forced herself and Clark to read this earlier in the year. That meant she could focus a little more on other things, like making sure her last issues for the Torch were the best ever. But right now, she had to figure out what exactly was bothering her superhuman best friend. She knew nobody ever got into his skin the way Lana could, but that last exchange seemed awkward even to her, mistress of the Wall of Weird.

She waited until Mr. Lancaster got deep into his discussion about the curses on the play of Macbeth to talk to Clark. She tugged on his sleeve as he sat back, apparently deep in thought. When he turned to her, she mustered a small smile, tucking her blonde hair behind an ear. "Hey. What happened between you and Lana?"

Clark sighed quietly. "Lana showed up a couple of nights ago on my front porch, soaking wet and unconscious. I brought her in and we let her stay the night. I caught up with her later on and asked her about what happened. And she told me something outrageous about a monster or an alien making her crash her car and then attacking her. And then she said that she was saved by some guy with this sword and blades on his arms with a wolf. A wolf, in Kansas! And he was speaking some old language, and using magic. I told her that it didn't seem plausible and that I thought she was hallucinating."

"Clark," Chloe hissed. "Do you really think you have the right to just toss aside what Lana says happened? I mean, think about it. Here in Smallville, all the weird and supernatural happen. Or did you forget the Wall of Weird?" Clark grimaced a little, and Chloe followed up with more. "And don't forget, aside from you, Lana is a big magnet for the meteor-infected and other strangers."

"You've got a point…but if she's right, that means something is going on here. Something big, maybe. We need to check it out, Chloe." Chloe began to nod in agreement when the door opened and the class's attention was drawn behind Mr. Lancaster.

* * *

"Sorry we're late, Mr. Lancaster," Lana said as she opened the door.

"Lana, you aren't an exception from the class," Mr. Lancaster said dryly. "Call me Rick."

"Of course Rick. This is Dominic. He's just transferred into this class and I was helping him get to class."

"Ah, yes," Rick said, tapping his chin with the copy of _Macbeth_ in his hands. "Students," he called out, pulling the attention of his class to himself again. "This is Dominic…what's your last name, kid?"

Dominic took a small step forward. "I'm Dominic Tatum. Just transferred in to finish my classes here," he continued, waving a gloved hand. When Nerissa pawed his pants leg, he chuckled. "Oh and this is Nerissa. She's here to help me get around the school without bumping into you guys." Nerissa barked happily, inciting whispers from the class surrounding them.

Rick nodded easily. "Okay then, thanks. You may follow Miss Lang to your seat next to her.

Dominic nodded and snapped his fingers twice, and the class watched while Nerissa loped to the desk Rick had mentioned and curled up underneath it and began to drift off to sleep. Dominic walked forward, tapping his cane along the desks until his cane collided with the soft side of Nerissa."

"Now, back to the story," Rick said. "Miss Lang, since you were the last to walk in, can you tell us why _Macbeth _was considered cursed?"

"Well, the people thought that Shakespeare had found parts of the script for the witches from real spells. When the witches found out, they cursed it."

"Very good," Rick said, rolling into the next question. "Do you have an example?"

Lana cracked open her book, skimming it quickly before stopping. "There's one in Act IV, Scene I. It's the three witches. . . 'Double, double, toil and trouble. Fire burn and cauldron bubble." As Lana began to read, the windows darkened, clouds appearing overhead at an amazing rate. The wind outside began to pick up and thundered clapped overhead, breaking open the skies and letting it rain over Smallville.

Clark felt a chill roll up his spine as he listened to Lana's words. His hair stood on end and he immediately flashed back to the last time something like this had happened: when Lana sapped his powers with magic from her ancestor…Clark's thoughts were interrupted by a low growl behind him. He turned to see the new kid's dog standing, growling lowly. The boy's hand dropped off the desk, stroking his dog's head and scratching behind her ears, a small smile draped along his face. What unnerved Clark though was the fact that Dominic, blind as he was, seemed to be staring directly at him. And what was worse, he could swear he was hearing the boy's voice in his head: _We have been looking for you, Traveler…_


	4. Magic and Messages

Clark hung back in Lit class while the rest of his classmates shuffled off to their last classes of the day. Clark waved Chloe on with a slightly forced smile, and watched with interest as Lana took hold of the new kid's hand. He assumed from the way they entered the class together that she was essentially guiding the blind kid around the school. Immediately, he recalled the first time her saw her coming into Smallville High, when he'd crumpled to his feet due to the power of the Kryptonite rock that she wore as a necklace. Back then, Pete used to always joke and say that it was Lana that always knocked him off his feet, and maybe he wasn't too far gone from the truth. But she'd stopped to help him, a clumsy fellow freshman. And now, here she was, helping yet another person with the kind heart she'd maintained in spite of everything she'd been through.

When he blinked again he realized that the room was almost entirely empty, save for himself and Mr. Lancaster. The Lit teacher turned to find Clark standing in front of his desk. "Mr. Kent," Rick acknowledged. "Did you need something from me?"

"Actually, I had some questions for you," Clark admitted, backing up a little as Rick came around the desk.

Rick hefted himself onto his desktop to sit in front of Clark. "How can I help you Clark?" he queried, gesturing for him to have a seat.

Clark perched himself on top of the nearest desk and rubbed his forehead gently, brushing locks of dark hair back. "Do you believe in curses, Rick?"

The Lit teacher's face immediately became perplexed. "What kind of curses, Clark?"

"Like the ones we were talking about in class. Like the one on _Macbeth_."

Rick sat back for a minute, discreetly stroking his beard in deep though before he answered. "Well Clark, let me put it like this: legend says that the night _Macbeth _premiered, one of the actors was actually stabbed to death because the prop dagger had been mysteriously replaced with a real dagger. Actors the world around will tell tales of horror regarding this very place, and people even swear that the Astor Place riot happened because of it. The RMS Titanic was said to be cursed, and so was the Kennedy family. So do I believe in curses? I'm not sure, but these events all at least lend credibility to the idea of whether or not they exist."

"One more question," Clark said as he stood to his feet. "Do you believe in magic?"

Rick stared at Clark for a moment. "I haven't given the idea any thought at all. I don't have an answer regarding that."

* * *

Lana stared at the clock as it ticked down the hour, the minutes, and the seconds until her math class was over and done with. She did what she could to keep relatively still while her teacher went over logarithmic functions. Her pencil rolled between her fingers, gently tapping against the wood-grain desk. When the bell finally rung, Lana uncharacteristically swiped her books into her bag and shouldered it, speeding towards the door.

As soon as she stepped out into the halls, she sighed. The halls were overrun with students bustling to their lockers and catching up with their friends. She looked around furiously for a moment, silently cursing the fact that she was so short. She just caught a glimpse of Clark making his way to the Torch, but before she could ask him for help, he disappeared into the crowd. She looked around herself with a wary eye, wondering where the overwhelming number of kids had come from. She closed her eyes in an attempt to focus, repeating to herself mentally _Find Dom, find Dom!_

Almost immediately, her head snapped up and focused on a spot within her eyelids. A spot that grew and morphed into silhouettes: a human and a dog by his feet. She opened her eyes and strode through the crowd to where her eyes were focused and found Dom facing the lockers. Before she could speak, Nerissa jumped to her paws and began to bark happily.

"Lana?" Dom asked, turning slightly, picking his cane up.

"Yeah, it's me," Lana said over the noise of the crowd. "How'd you know?"

Dom reached down and Nerissa licked at his fingertips. "Nessie here told me. She only reacts like that when people she likes come around. So far, you're the only person here that she likes. She's really taken a shine to you. "

Lana kneeled to scratch the Husky behind her ears. "Well I've taken a shine to her as well." She looked up at Dom. "I just wanted to make sure you hadn't gotten lost or anything."

"Well, I'm perfectly fine," he laughed, spreading his arms. "Come on," he said, offering Lana his arm. "I'll walk you to the doors."

She grinned, taking his arm gently. "Do you even know where the doors are?" she asked a little playfully.

Dom looked back at her, a grin splayed onto his features. "Not a clue."

Lana looked up into his glasses. "Then I'd be honored to guide you."

* * *

'Venator' walked up to an abandoned building, looking it over with a watchful gaze. He touched the bricks, then looked to Neyira. "What do you think, girl? This a good spot?"

Neyira stared at him for a long moment before pushing her nose into the wall gently.

"I agree," muttered 'Ven'. "We have to check it out first." As he said that, he pressed his gloved hands to the wall, focusing his magic on the wall. At the same time, Neyira placed a paw on the wall and growled lowly. He stared at the wall, and his blue-gray eyes began to faintly glow. "In nomen venatura patefacio semita volo." And as if there was a path all along, the bricks began to pull back from the space 'Ven's' hand was placed until there was a hole large enough to allow the pair into the abandoned building.

'Ven' looked over the building with a knowing eye, planning for the renovations. "It's bigger once you're actually in here," he said to the wolf in awe. "I think this'll do just fine for our base." He glanced around expectantly, nodding along. He saw remnants of what used to be in the building, old forklifts and pallets and storage racks and murmured to himself. "We've got to clear this stuff out." He turned to Neyira, his eyes glowing once again. "You ready to do some spring cleaning?"

* * *

Clark and Chloe stood in the alley where Lana told him she'd been attacked. Chloe looked it over with a glance before sighing. "Y'know Clark, this scene looks almost nothing like anything Lana described." She walked over to a nearby wall. "I mean, if what she said was true, there should be a big gaping hole in the middle of this wall. But it's not," she muttered, rapping her knuckles on the wall. "Solid as a rock, I say." She stared at Clark for a moment, who seemed a bit lost in thought. "You okay?" she asked him. When he didn't respond, she walked closer to him, waving her hand in his face. "Hello, Earth-to-Clark." When he snapped to, she stepped and looked at him with a queried look on her face. "What's up with you?"

He glanced back at her with a weary look on his face. "Something feels wrong here. Like it's not real. Something in me tells me that what Lana said may be true." Clark focused on the wall that Chloe was studying. He felt his vision clench and narrow; his X-ray vision had kicked in now, and he studied the wall. After he looked, he shook his head in confusion before training his eyes back on the wall. "Chloe, something's up here."

"What Clark?"

He stepped closer to the wall, pressing his hand on it. "From this brick over here I can see everything." He touched a few more bricks. "From these on out, it's the same. But inside these bricks…I can't see anything. It's like I'm looking through lead."

Chloe stared at Clark. "How can that be? The entire wall is made of the same thing. It can't be lead."

Clark looked back at Chloe. "Maybe you should stay out here, keep looking for something out of the ordinary. I'm going to look inside, see what's on the other side of this wall."

"Okay Clark," Chloe said. "But be careful. This is Smallville. Something strange is going on here. And we don't know what we're dealing with."

* * *

'Ven' looked around with a smirk implanted on his face. He looked proudly over the work he and Neyira had done, the progress they had made. All the forklifts and storage racks were gone, generously 'donated' somewhere they could be made of better use. The dust that settled had evaporated from the room. The few walls that separated the sleeping areas and other empty places were already up, and space had been set aside for training. He stared at the blank wall across from where he'd entered. Now it was time to call home.

The four prongs were already embedded into the wall, he noted. He looked at Neyira, who stared back at him before curling up at his feet. 'Ven' smiled at the she-wolf before looking back to the wall and then closing his eyes. He concentrated on home, on the faces of his sister, his mother, his father. He willed the vision to come alive as he muttered, "Permissum mihi animadverto." When he opened his eyes, he could see his mother and sister in the Great Hall of what he called home. They were walking and talking, but 'Ven' noticed a slight change in his sister's stride. She'd always been able to sense his presence, no matter the circumstances. He was overjoyed; he hadn't seen them in a long time. He couldn't resist calling out, "Mother!"

His mother startled, jumping at hearing her son's voice. She glanced up, seeing his face on the screen above the thrones. "Ven!" she exclaimed. "Gratias ago Deus!" she murmured at the screen.

His sister was a lot less formal with her big brother. "Hey bro," she said with a big grin.

He ruffled his hair with a smile. "Hey Aria. Hi Mom. How's everything going over there?"

By then his mother had regained her composure. "Everything fares pretty well. No huge attacks in about six months now."

"Six months?" he replied. "Have I really been gone that long?"

His sister nodded. "Father's going to be upset he missed you. He and uncle are making defensive plans now. Just in case something does happen." Aria dusted herself off. "But what about you? Any good news? Any leads?"

'Ven' couldn't hide the grin splayed across his face. "You're right when you said Dad'll be upset that he missed me. I've got the biggest news. I've found him."

Aria gasped and his mother stared almost unbelievingly. "You don't mean-?"

"Exactly," he replied, holding up his hand, palm up. He summoned his magic and muttered, "Ostendo lemma." In his hand stood a small, figurine-like man, with a red jacket over a blue shirt and blue jeans. He was tall and muscular, with wavy hair and a soft, kind face. "I found the Last Son of Krypton."

* * *

"In nomen venatura patefacio semita volo" is Latin for, "In the name of the hunt, open the path to me."

"Permissum mihi animadverto" is Latin for, "Let me see."

"Gratias ago Deus" is Latin for, "Thank God."

"Ostendo lemma" is Latin for, "Show them."

* * *

**A/N: The curses that I mentioned above in the conversation between Rick and Clark are true in the sense that people actually believe that curses may have cause some of these things to occur, such as Shakespeare using real witch spells for his witches or the Titanic sinking because it carried a cursed mummies. Of course, there isn't any proof giving them validity. But I wanted you all to know that I didn't make them up for the sake of a really good (I hope) story. **


	5. Reinforced Seals

'Ven' stood in front of the four prongs that made up what would become the screen, a small grin playing at his face. The message had been sent home. Aria and his mother promised to tell his father about his discovery. They would call as soon as they could with more information and instructions about what to do next. The hunter walked past Neyira and bent to absently scratch behind her ears, still deep in thought. To be honest, neither he nor his family actually expected him to find the Traveler so soon, so he really wasn't prepared for what to do next. "I'll be back, Neyira." The wolf stared at him in wonder, as if to demand an explanation of where the hunter was going. "I need to sort my thoughts out. Plan our next move. Gonna get some fresh air."

He stood outside in the cool night breeze. He breathed in deeply, a smile lit in his eyes. 'Ven' wanted a chance to run, to stretch his coiled muscles. He began to sprint towards the building across the street from him. Almost as soon as he reached the wall, he left his feet and latched onto a crevice in the wall, climbing swiftly up the side of the building. He pulled himself over the ledge and continued to sprint again. 'Ven' easily vaulted over the steel appendages of the stores and homes underfoot, picking up speed over the sloping rooftops that made up this part of Smallville.

After a particularly risky jump which had 'Ven' catching the ledge to a window, his face began to scrunch in wonder. _I thought Smallville was a smaller town. It seems so much bigger right now though,_ he thought to himself as he began to haul himself up the side of the building. As he planted his feet solidly on the roof of the building, the young hunter took a deep breath. The cold air felt good in his lungs, but his body involuntarily shivered due to the temperature, which was unusually chilly for the time of year. 'Ven' held his palms together and allowed his energy to flow, to focus at the point directly between both palms. He felt the magic grow, brimming and boiling just under the surface and grinned while his eyes began to glow. "Flamma de venatura," he whispered into the space and watched with glee as he held a sparking ball of flame in his hands. He held the fire close, allowing it to warm him as he stared out over the town. _The only thing left,_ he thought, _is to figure out what exactly that girl's part is in this._

* * *

Lana sat at her desk in the Talon, staring at her math homework. She sighed for what she counted as being the thirty-fifth time: she couldn't think straight. Not with all the weird things going on around her. She stared off at the window blankly, thinking over it all. Everything had been going screwy with her life. Clark was hiding something from her. Well, that wasn't necessarily the problem, she mused. Clark was always hiding _something _from her. The problem stemmed from the fact that he hid too much from her, which was why they weren't together now. This last thing…whatever it was, was the last straw. All she had wanted was to be there for Clark, and all he had done was shut her out. And then when she saw him at school, he looked…almost heartbroken. It confused her. Lana understood that he'd lost his father, but still. It seemed like whatever was bothering him included that, but that it wasn't the entire problem, and she couldn't put her finger on what it actually was. He gave _her _up, not the other way around. _So why is he the only one heart-broken after the fact?_ she pondered silently.

She shoved her math notebook back into her bag. That wasn't the only problem. That…thing that had attacked her…she couldn't get the memory out of her mind. She knew that…whatever it was…it could've killed her without a second thought. And this time, it wasn't Clark swooping in with another save. This time, it was another boy. 'Venator', the monster called him. It sounded foreign to Lana. He had appeared like the boy had been waiting for the monster, like he was hunting it and had just cinched the trap closed. And the boy used magic, she knew that much. She could almost feel it in the air during the fight. And then she passed out and found herself on Clark's doorstep. And then Clark had the nerve not to believe her about this too! She knew what she had seen: a monster and a boy fighting, and a wolf watching over her. Matter of fact, she could've sworn the wolf came back to her. And right when it came back, the tattoo on her back returned…and it evolved. Almost as if the wolf had brought it back with a touch of its paw.

She remembered something strange as she shouldered her bag. Whenever she sensed what she assumed was magic, her tattoo would tingle, like it could sense traces of energy akin to itself. Even before, when all that strange stuff had been happening with Jason and his mom… She brushed the idea off and stared at the steps leading upstairs. She thought about just crashing in the apartment upstairs and just forgetting about everything, at least for the night. Lana had just made her mind up to sleep in the Talon's extra room when the mark began to tingle.

Lana gasped softly when she felt the magic, and the power emanating from it caused her to shiver. She tried to shake off the familiar, but unnatural feeling, but it was strong, too strong to just ignore. The way the energy vibrated through her body, she knew that whatever was causing it was actively using the magic. She bit into her lip, debating on what to do: go upstairs and ignore the sensations thrumming under her skin, or go find out what was doing this? Lana stared at the door tensely. _Guess I'm a little more like Chloe than I thought, _she decided, stalking out the front door.

* * *

'Ven' stared into the flames dancing in his palm, focusing on the power he channeled into his hand, causing the flames to dance as his mind willed it to. He began to surge even more of his power into the fire, causing the flames to rise and lick at his gloves. 'Ven's eyes began to glow again as he began to form a shield around the growing blaze to contain it, testing his abilities. The hunter began to maintain the barrier, closing it up and watching as the flames began to die out within the air-tight shield. 'Ven' grinned, pleased that he had finally mastered control of utilizing multiple powers simultaneously. But all too quickly, his thoughts began to turn to Alek. The alien had escaped the Phantom Zone, that much he knew. He'd seen his own father send Alek to the Zone at least twice before, which originally made him think that the alien had originally come to Smallville to take his revenge on the son of his captor. Now…now 'Ven' thought that there was another reason entirely. Alek had appeared to this girl, for seemingly no reason.

_Only three things could have caused Alek to act out that way, _the hunter pondered in his head as he started up another flame in his hands. _Alek could have just been starting a rampage, taking out his rage on whatever and whoever he wanted to. Alek could have also sensed the magic in her and just attacked. I mean, with all that my father put him through, he'd take his anger out on any person who had magic. _'Ven blew out a slow, deep breath as he thought, adding his breath to the fire and causing it to swirl within his grasp. _But…maybe Alek got smart. He knew I was here. He realized she had the magic potential. He set us up! He followed her until he knew I was near. He attacked her so I would come out and he would take out two birds with one stone…and he almost succeeded, if it hadn't been for the girl. _

Even with all that, something just didn't add up with 'Ven'. From what his father had told him, they knew all of the magic clans in the world, even the extinct ones. But in all of the diplomats and leaders and commanders that passed through his home, not a single one of them was from Kansas. As far as his family knew, nobody had magic in Kansas, which is why he was sent: because of all the dangerous and unexplainable stuff that had been happening around Metropolis. And now, to find this…

'Ven' stopped suddenly, losing his focus on the miniature funnel of flames that was dancing in his hands. There was a magical presence nearby; he could feel it in the air around him. With a quick glance in all directions, he made sure no one was up on the rooftops with him, which meant the magic was coming from below him.

* * *

Lana looked around outside, looking for whatever could be the source of the magic that she was sensing. She took a brief glance around the Talon before coming to the conclusion that there wasn't anybody around. But at the same time, the tingle still ran over her back, focused at the point of the tattoo. It was clear out, she noticed, clearer than it usually was in Smallville. Lana looked around one last time before she decided that maybe Clark was right and that she was losing it a little. She shook her head with a grim look on her face before she turned around, heading back into the Talon. Suddenly a brief but strong just of wind blasted her in the face, fanning her hair out behind her and disorienting her.

_It's way too calm out here for such a strong gust of wind to appear so suddenly, _Lana thought. The Talon manager just knew something was wrong. _Maybe…just maybe the power isn't down here…_ On a whim, Lana looked up and saw a bright flash. Before she could think twice, she called out. "Hey!"

Almost immediately, the flashes disappeared, but she could make out a figure in the flashes of light. "Hey!" she called again. "Who are you? What are you doing?" She rushed to the front of the building where she saw the flashes and stared hard for any evidence that she wasn't losing her mind and that someone really was up there. She was about to give up and turn in for the night when she noticed a shadow overhead, going from the building where the flashes were to the nearby building beside it. Something inside told Lana that maybe chasing dark shadows around in the middle of night alone wasn't the smartest decision, but something deeper told her to run after that shadow.

* * *

'Ven's heart began to pound in his chest. He knew he should've been more careful when he was using his magic. He knew once he sensed the foreign source of magic, he should've stopped immediately and headed back to the base, but he'd gotten lost in what he was doing. And now, he was pressed low against the building, hoping that the girl would just give up looking and leave.

The hunter counted off what he thought an average girl's time of concentrated focus would be before deciding it was time to move. He counted off backwards in his own head before leaping from the top of the building to the nearby one, focusing his magic in his legs to help him keep steady as he ran and leapt from building to building. His heart began to thud viciously against his chest; it was all he could do to keep on his feet while he raced across the rooftops of Smallville.

He stopped on a rooftop he found on the street, with no other buildings close enough to jump to without going back to the source of energy he was sensing. On looking down, he noticed that there was more road below him. He shrugged to himself before jumping straight down, muttering quickly to himself on the way down, conjuring a spell to break his fall.

The hunter hit the ground a lot harder than he'd intended to, another strong reminder that he wasn't a complete master of his abilities yet. He'd landed with a grunt, but managed to roll through the fall and get to his feet again to keep running. The spell _had _managed to break his fall, but not exactly the way he'd intended. He began tuning out his own thoughts so he could focus on the girl's energy and whether or not she was still following him.

_She's still on my tail!_ he exclaimed. _God, she's persistent._ He looked around as he ran and found himself coming up into a dark alley. _Great, _he thought to himself. _I guess I have to resort to more complex means of escape. _He turned around and faced the mouth of the alleyway as his eyes began to glow.

* * *

To be honest, Lana had no idea what was getting into her. She didn't normally go running after strange and mysterious things that were happening around her, and with her track record, she really felt that she ought to turn around and just let it go before whatever it was decided to come back. But all the same, she felt something else strong deep within her calling to her, telling her, _compelling _her to run after whatever she was chasing. And so, here she was, chasing after God-knows-what. What made matters worse was, even if she'd caught up with…whatever it was, she didn't know what she planned to do if she managed to catch up.

She couldn't sense the magic above her anymore, instead being fully ahead and she followed it as fast as possible. Briefly, she wondered if Clark or Chloe felt this way when they chased down some of the meteor-freaks…knowing that they needed to be stopped, but at the same time not knowing what to do to stop them.

She came to an alley and shuddered within herself. Part of her knew that she didn't want to go in there, but still her feet began to take her forward, deeper and further into the dark abyss. She followed the turns through the alley, her own footsteps echoing off of the walls around her before she came to a dead end. Lana looked around wearily, seeing nothing but blank walls and the way out. She stared at the wall in front of her in disbelief. She knew she was sensing something. Something that was still there. Lana put her hand to the wall, trying to think of what she was going to do next. As her fingers ran over the cracks in the wall, she heard a voice: "Claudite obiectam."

* * *

'Ven' jumped down from his perch in the wall, his eyes still glowing. He managed to softly land in front of the trapped girl before looking in her face. "It's you again," he muttered softly, holding his gloved hand up to maintain the barrier he'd conjured. "You know, we have to stop meeting like this." He prepared to lower his hand and drop the barrier when she turned and stared at him, a hard glare that started a change in the girl, from a soft, startled stance to one filled with tempered rage and malice. Instantly 'Ven' noticed the change in her and drew on more of his energy to reinforce the barrier. "Who are you?" the hunter asked.

The girl looked at him and laughed to herself. "I don't answer questions from people like you. But apparently you are at least somewhat of a challenge for me. I would like to know who you are before I destroy you and make you my slave and start my quest again."

He stared at the girl, wary of her. She seemed so different from the girl he'd saved earlier, even though the two at least looked the same. In fact, aside from the mannerisms, he knew that they were one and the same. "I am Venator," he answered evenly.

The girl crossed her arms over her chest and glared even harder at the boy. "Don't play your little games here, boy. I am not as naïve as the girl who usually inhabits this body. That is not your name but a title, a title older than even me. Come boy. Your real name. It isn't polite to keep a girl waiting."

"Dominic. My name is Dominic," the hunter sighed deeply.

"You look so sad. You know, I have all the memories of this particular girl. And she knows you." Her eyes got bigger as she talked. "But she doesn't know about the magic does she?"

"No she doesn't. Don't! You can't tell her."

The girl gave him a look of mock-sympathy. "Oh…well I wouldn't dream of telling her. If I decide to relinquish my hold on her, she won't remember anything after running into a dead end in an alley. That's just the way the magic works. Now, free me and I might let you live."

Dominic looked at the girl. "You've haven't even told me your own name."

"Very well. I suppose even slaves deserve to know their master's name. I am Countess Margaret Isobel Thoreaux and I will have the Stones of Power and rule this land."

Dominic stopped, tightening his barrier around the countess. "Isobel? How is this possible?"

Isobel turned around, lifting the back of her shirt. "This mark. I had it transposed onto my body before I was sentenced to death by fire. When this girl found my tomb, she got the mark, and when she found my spell book, she freed me. I have remained dormant in this body, but recent proximity to magic appears to have awakened me. All I needed was more time around some and chasing you down was enough to wake me."

Dominic studied the mark on Isobel's back before noting something in particular. He'd seen the mark before when studying at home but knew that something was off. In his head, he mentally lifted away the mark of Isobel and saw what looked like a paw-print emblazoned on top of it. He grinned to himself as Isobel turned around.

"Now, don't make me overpower and kill you. You seem like you may be useful to me." She smirked. "Besides, you're cute."

The hunter smirked to himself. "You know, you're so old and out of it, you probably couldn't beat a farm boy, much less a trained hunter like me. You can't even break through my barrier."

Isobel's eyes flared with a pale purple light as she lifted her hand. "Foolish boy. I was going to let you live. If you must be the first to fall at my feet, then by all means. _Evertere__._"

Instantly, Dominic's arm dropped to his side, weakening the barrier before it dissipated entirely. Isobel leapt at the hunter, victory etched into her face. Dominic smirked at the countess as she descended on him. His other hand shot into the air and he gathered his energy to cast another spell. "Ligaveris eius anima!" Isobel dropped from the air and knelt before the hunter's outstretched hand.

"What is this trickery?" Isobel demanded.

"It's simple Isobel. There was a fail-safe installed on you. We didn't know anything about the magic in this girl, and we didn't want her to hurt herself or anybody else so we sealed the magic. I guess your presence made it so she could sense magic, but I had the ability to seal you at any time I deemed it necessary."

Isobel began to panic. She could sense that she was losing consciousness, but she was determined to go defiantly. "Dominic, I know your plans. You intend to train this girl. But in order to do that, you will have to loosen the binding spell to get to the magic, and with the magic comes me." Her breath was becoming short; she had lost the feeling in her feet. "When you release the seal, I will be back. And you and your precious apprentice will face me in all my power!"

Dominic clenched his outstretched hand and violet light pulsed from Isobel as her spirit was sealed with the spell. A brief burst of magic forced Dominic back. When he managed to pull himself back to Lana's body, he stared down at her still form. _Lana. _He breathed aloud. _We really do have to stop meeting like this._

* * *

"Flamma de venatura" is Latin for "Flame of the Hunt"

"Claudite obiectam" is Latin for "Close the barrier"

"Venator" is Latin for "Hunter"

"Evertere" is Latin for "Overturn"

"Ligaveris eius anima" is Latin for "Bind her (his/its/the) spirit"

* * *

**I know, I know, but it's been far too long, but I have good reasons...for one, Mass Effect 3 came out. Okay that's not the number one reason. I just started college and I needed to focus. But I took the summer off and promised myself I'd write more often. So this is the beginning. And I'll get to the other stories soon. But I wanted this one to be the first one I updated. **_  
_


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